66 
AMBOYNA. 
zons are said not to have suffered any men among them. . The women 
of these Cossacks live in the other islands of the Dnieper. They 
never marry, nor have any family ; all their male children are enrolled 
as soldiers, and the females are left with their mothers. The brother 
often has children by his sister, and the father by his daughter. They 
know no laws but those which custom has introduced, founded on 
their natural wants, though they have among them some priests of 
the Greek ^jersuasion. They serve in the army as irregulars; and 
wo to those who fall into their hands. 
The country of these Cossacks, who are an assemblage of ancient 
Roxalans, Sarmatians, and Tartars, is called the Ocraine or Ukraine. 
It lies upon the borders of Russia and Poland, Little Tartary, and 
Turkey, and was anciently a part of Scythia, By the treaty between 
Russia and Poland, in 1693, the latter remained in possession of all 
that part of the Ukraine which is situated on the west side of the 
Dnieper, and is now but poorly cultivated. That on the east side, 
inhabited by the Cossacks, is in much better condition, and extends 
about two hundred and sixty miles in length, and as many in breadth. 
It is one continued fertile plain, w atered by a great number of fine 
rivers, diversified with pleasant woods, and yields such plenty of 
all sorts of grain, pulse, tobacco, honey, and wax, as to supply a 
great part of the Russian empire with these commodities. Its pas- 
tures are exceedingly rich, and its cattle very large, but the inhabit- 
ants are generally plagued with locusts, which infest this fine country. 
The houses in the Ukraine are, like those of the Russians, built 
mostly of timber. 
Customs, Religion, &c. in Amboyna. 
The men of Amboyna, one of the Malacca islands, wear large 
whiskers, but have little hair upon their chins, and have only a slight 
piece of stuff lapped round their middle. The women tie their hair 
in knots ; the maids are bought of their fathers before they are mar- 
ried ; and if the wife proves barren, the marriage is dissolved. Some 
of the natives are Mahometans, and some Christians ; but they are 
all said to be lazy, deceitful, and treacherous. They make war with 
small swift vessels, in shape like dragons with regard to the head 
and tail. Their houses are built of bamboo canes and sago-trees* 
Their weapons are bows and arrows, javelins, cimeters, and targets. 
Amboyna was first discovered by the Portuguese, who built a fort 
upon it, w hich was taken from them by the Dutch in 1605. 
They did not, how'ever, become masters of the whole island at 
once. The English had here five factories, the people of which lived 
under the protection of the Dutch castle, holding themselves safe, 
in respect to the friendship between the tw^o nations. Great differ- 
ences had arisen between the Dutch and English colonists in these 
parts of the world ; till at last the East India company applying to 
king James, a treaty w'as concluded in 1619, by which the concerns 
both of the English and Dutch were regulated, and certain measures 
agreed upon for preventing future disputes. This was an additional 
security to the English ; and by virtue of the treaty, they continued 
